


Next Time, Fuck It, I'm Just Gonna Drive to Arizona.

by h_nb



Series: Brick [3]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Cold, Extreme Weather, Freezing, Snow, Storm - Freeform, Whump, Whumptober 2020, injuries, sick, snowstorm, sprained ankle
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-28
Updated: 2020-10-28
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:06:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,022
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27239272
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/h_nb/pseuds/h_nb
Summary: Whumptober Day Twenty Seven: Extreme Weather
Series: Brick [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1948501
Comments: 2
Kudos: 2
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	Next Time, Fuck It, I'm Just Gonna Drive to Arizona.

Brick was really regretting not driving to Arizona. 

In their defense, gas would be fucking expensive to drive all the way out there for just a few weeks. They'd braved winter storms before, in their van, and made it through alright. They just covered themself in blankets, used all the hand warmer packets they had stolen from the closest Walgreens, and made do until the storm died down long enough that they could dig out their van. Sometimes they were lucky enough to find a spot with some overhang, so the top of their van didn't end up with two feet of snow on top of it. 

This blizzard and the circumstances around it were not being very kind to them this time. 

Brick walked slowly through the harsh wind and snow that smacked at their face, hobbling with one badly sprained ankle as they traversed the streets to where their van was parked, almost certainly half-buried with snow by now. Their head was down, bruised hands folded under their arms in an attempt to preserve body heat as they shivered down the sidewalk. Snow collected in their four day old bloodstained hoodie, slipping in through the tears in it and trickling down their back and collecting in their arms and on their hair. Despite their hands being hidden under their arms, they were still absolutely frozen, fingers so cold Brick wasn't sure if they could move them. Their head throbbed, their shoulder ached furiously, and their ankle sent sharp spikes of agony racing up their leg with every small step. 

Brick's teeth chattered, and they felt their lip ring hit their teeth, cold metal against sensitive teeth. Brick exhaled heavily, breath leaving them in frozen clouds and their throat burning slightly when they inhaled the cold air. The blood that had been dripping from Brick's nose had completely frozen, but that was hardly any kind of mercy given that Brick could no longer breath through their nose. 

Brick coughed suddenly, chest aching as they doubled over for a brief moment. Their ankle wavered, and Brick half-slumped against a stone wall while they worked their way through another fit of coughs. They know the coughs weren't good, but with everything else it was the least of their worries at the moment.

They looked up through ice-crusted eyes, and just barely saw a familiar structure that they had remembered parking their van next to. There was no one else around, no one else stupid enough to be walking in a blizzard at this time, so Brick was alone in the dark, snow-covered streets as they dragged themself through the storm, barely keeping their balance with their sprained ankle and the wind rushing around them, doing its best to knock them over.

Brick could see the outline of their tires in front of them, but it was nearly completely covered with snow, to the point that Brick could barely see the window from where they stood on the outside. Brick reached out with a frozen, shaking hand, reaching for the door handle. It hurt, pushing their hand through the snow and forcing their fingers to close around the handle. They yanked on it, with as much force as they could without completely unbalancing themself, but the door stayed firmly shut.

"Son of a bitch," Brick gasped, so cold and so much in pain that it hurt to think. "F-fuckin', frozen, 'kay, gotta, fucking, pull harder?" They yanked on it again, hissing in pain as their ankle threatened to give out entirely. To balance themself, their other hand braced them against the van, but that just hurt more as their other hand was also subjected to a wall of cold snow. With a furious yell and a sharp pain in their head, Brick manages to yank the side door of their van open, shaking it enough that snow shook from the top and fell right onto the blankets inside, as well as all over Brick.

"Motherfucker," they spat, shaking their aching head to dislodge as much snow as possible. Their hands shook with cold and exertion as they reached out to brush snow from the inside, pushing out as much of it as they could manage before their ankle gave out and they collapsed into the blankets, the van shaking again and dislodging more snow as they did so.

Brick reached out and pulled the van door shut, hoping it would increase the heat in the van a little bit.

It didn't. The van had very little insulation at the sides, and Brick hadn't been there in two days, so it was nearly as cold inside as it was outside. Brick could still see their breath, even in the minutes after they had taken off their completely soaked boots and socks, splinting their ankle slowly with shaking their hands, pulling two pairs of thick socks over their frozen feet. No matter how many blankets they piled onto themself, they didn't feel like they were getting much warmer. They grabbed the remaining hand warmers they had left, hissing in pain as the sudden heat felt like it was burning their hands,

Brick stared at nothing, covered in all the blankets they had, still shivering. The wind howled around the, and Brick could see the snow gathering up once again around their windows. 

They could feel themself getting drowsy, and Brick found they couldn't remember whether that was a symptom of hypothermia or not. They shook themself, frozen hair stiff in the air as they tried to stay awake. They rubbed their slowly warming hands together, exhaling shakily as another cough shook their body. They wiped the blood on their nose away with their hoodie sleeve, a slow sigh escaping them as they dropped their head, just a little. Everything hurt, and the pain meds were only a few feet away, but Brick's body felt so battered and frozen solid that the idea of moving at the moment seemed impossible. So they covered their head in the blankets, shut their eyes, and gave into the tug of exhausted sleep while the storm continued to rage around them. 


End file.
